Peptilogics Set to Transform the Development of Antibiotics for the Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Infections With Major Backing From Peter Thiel

Peptilogics, a pre-clinical stage company utilizing an innovative
peptide platform to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections,
announced today that it closed a $5.5 million Series A financing with
participation from Peter Thiel, Stefan Roever, BlueTree Ventures and
others. Peptilogics, founded by Jonathan Steckbeck, who serves as
President and Chief Scientific Officer, is also announcing Sanjay
Kakkar’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer.

Peptilogics’ eCAP (engineered cationic antibiotic peptide) platform
offers the prospect of a completely new class of antibiotics and has
shown potent activity against a broad spectrum of resistant bacteria in
multiple non-clinical models. eCAPs possess a novel mechanism of action
enabling non-lytic, direct targeting and disruption of bacterial
membranes causing rapid death of both dormant and growing bacterial
cells. Pre-clinical data suggest that this novel mechanism of action
makes these compounds less likely to generate resistance. The company’s
lead compound has demonstrated an encouraging toxicity profile to date
in pre-clinical studies. The funding received will fuel the expansion of
the company and its eCAP platform, particularly the continued
development of its first clinical candidate in preparation for an IND
submission next year.

“The unique properties of the eCAP technology hold incredible promise to
bring forward a new class of antibiotics that are broad spectrum and
have minimal risk of generating drug resistance, a combination that is
urgently needed to address the tremendous clinical need,” said Sanjay
Kakkar, CEO. “I am genuinely excited to work closely with a group of
groundbreaking innovators, experienced drug developers and leading
investors to leverage this powerful technology to give healthcare
practitioners an important new option to address the rapidly growing
threat of resistant bacterial infections.”

“We are inching closer to a post-antibiotic era,” said Jonathan
Steckbeck, President and CSO. “Over the past few years, we have been
seeing an increase in both the number and type of drug-resistant
bacterial infections. Now we are seeing more patients with infections
that do not respond to any drugs, as well as extreme drug resistance in
bacteria that can make healthy people sick. Our goal is to keep a step
ahead of the bacteria.”

BlueTree Ventures, Stefan Roever and Dietrich Stephan, Chairman of the
company, were early backers of Peptilogics’ platform technology.

“Since its early days as an exciting concept, we are thrilled to see the
eCAP platform now demonstrating its potential efficacy and safety in
vivo,” said Catherine Mott of BlueTree Ventures. “We believe that
the clear unmet need in multidrug-resistant infections and the potential
to rapidly establish proof of concept will allow Peptilogics to maximize
value both in the short and long term. Additionally, Sanjay Kakkar’s
wealth of experience in the growth and development of biotechnology
companies at all stages of development will be instrumental in
propelling the company toward its goals.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Peter Thiel as an investor as we strive to
tackle one of the most pressing global health issues of our time,” said
Stefan Roever. “The proven approach that Peter Thiel takes to
identifying and supporting innovative companies complements ideally the
ambitious mission that we are pursuing at Peptilogics.”

About Peptilogics

Peptilogics is an early-stage biotechnology company developing a new
class of antibiotics with a novel mechanism of action derived from their
eCAP (engineered cationic antibiotic peptide) platform for the treatment
of multidrug-resistant infections. Through rational design, this
technology dramatically amplifies the antimicrobial activity of
naturally-occurring peptides while at the same time achieving a strong
systemic safety profile. The eCAP platform has the potential to produce
antibiotics with broad-spectrum activity with low risk of generating
resistance, due to the unique mechanism of action involving the targeted
disruption of bacterial membranes. For more information visit: www.peptilogics.com.

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